BURL BURLINGAME / BBURLINGAME@STARBULLETIN.COM North Kohala , the birthplace of King Kamehameha, is isolated, windswept and rugged.

The birthplace
of a King

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NORTH Kohala is pretty raw country. The island rears up out of the ocean like a breaching whale, and the biting wind blows constantly through the steep and tumbling ravines. It's here, naturally, that according to legend, Kamehameha was born.

The site is on a broad, quiet plain near the older Mo'okini heiau, sloping toward cliff sides crumbling into the gray and harried sea.

The walls of the site were supposedly constructed some years after the great chief's birth, to help protect the location. At the time of his birth, however, Kamehameha had a bounty on his head, and the infant was quickly hustled into hiding. The legend, colored by missionary retellings, was that all male infants were in peril as worried royalty hunted down those who were born to oppose them, rather like the legend of Moses and Pharaoh.

COURTESY BISHOP MUSEUM King Kamehameha is seen here in his later years.

In his lifetime, Kamehameha witnessed the coming of the white man and his technology, and the young chief co-opted both to help build a coalition to unite the islands under the rule of the clever chief from the Big Island.

And so it's at this spot that was born not only the great chief Kamehameha, but the whole concept of a "Hawaiian" islands.

The whole of North Kohala is Kamehameha country. As well as the birthplace of the future king, his boyhood home is in nearby 'Awini Valley, and the area was a stronghold of loyalists, one of the few areas whose people he could count on. There are plenty of sacred sites, heiau and pohaku stones.

The site is just west of the town of Hawi. Take the turnoff to Upolu Airport, then hang a left at the airfield. Watch out, it's bumpy and sometimes locked up. Hiking in is pleasant, particularly late in the day, and the wind has something to say.

Nearby Mo'okini Heiau shelters the stark birthplace. It dates to 480 A.D. and is one of the island's most revered temple sites. The area is maintained by volunteers, and local hula halau often hold ceremonies at the location.